Step 1: Make seasoning mixture
Combine garlic, thyme, marjoram, orange zest, allspice, pepper, salt, and white wine in a bowl or measuring cup and allow to stand for an hour to allow the flavors to blend.

Step 2: Grind pork (skip this step if using pre-ground pork)
Cut the chilled pork shoulder into 1 inch chunks, then grind using the fine or medium plate of your meat grinder. Place ground meat in refrigerator until ready to use.

Step 3: Make sausage
Combine chilled ground pork and seasoning mixture in a large bowl, and blend using your (clean) hands, taking care that the seasoning mixture is evenly distributed. Form into patties, divide into bulk portions, stuff into casings, or make ‘skinless’ links using the stuffing tube of your meat grinder.

Enjoy!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A while back, I got the idea in my head that I wanted to make my own sausage. Why? first and foremost, I love good sausage; secondly, I’m *very* picky about my sausage — it needs to be super high quality and made with fresh, ethically sourced ingredients (which severely limits my choices of where to buy sausage); thirdly, there’s a huge amount of room for culinary creativity; fourthly, did I mention I love good sausage? So I poked around the internet and found my grinder — the Porkert #10 — a solid cast iron grinder with a double tin coating, straight from the Czech Republic.

Porkert #10 grinder

My birthday was coming up, and so I said to Steven — ‘I found what I’d like for my birthday’, and showed him the grinder.

‘What?!? I’m not getting you a meat grinder for your birthday! Do you want some jewelry, something nice, I don’t know… something that’s NOT a meat grinder?’ he replied.

Well, as you can see he finally came around to the idea, mostly through me saying things like, ‘don’t you want to get me something you know that I really want and will use?’ and ‘wouldn’t you rather know that what is going into your sausage is all fresh, high-quality, ethical, etc?’. And I must say, you know you’ve got a good man if he’ll get you a meat grinder for your birthday… :)

So my birthday came and went — it was a fantastic day — we slept in, had a good breakfast of eggs, biscuits, and padrones peppers, took a long beautiful drive out to the ocean, stopped at a goat farm for super fresh goat cheese, climbed the rocks and listened to the surf at the beach … and of course, I received my wonderful BIRTHDAY MEAT GRINDER from Steven.

I didn’t waste any time getting started on my sausage making endeavor: I placed an order with my butcher for 5 lbs of pastured pork shoulder (also called boston butt or picnic shoulder), which I would make into homemade sausage treats for my birthday BBQ this past weekend (yeah, I stretch my birthday celebration out for at least 2-3 weeks).

So, you might be thinking — what in the world would one do with 5 LBS of sausage?? well, around here, we actually eat a fair bit of sausage — I typically buy fresh sausages from the butcher or the farmer’s market then remove the casings and use the sausage in pasta dishes, casseroles, with scrambled eggs, on pizza, stuffed into zucchini or eggplants. A little goes a long way, and I find it’s a good way to eat less meat without sacrificing taste, culinary creativity, etc.

2.5lbs boneless pork shoulder

Slicing pork shoulder into cubes

But here’s what I did with these specific 5 lbs — 2 lbs got cooked into dishes for the BBQ, 2 lbs were frozen (2 x 1lb bags), and 1 lb was made into skinless breakfast links and patties (which I also froze). This will last us at *least* a month, if not more. This particular recipe with its herby, peppery, and orange undertones works well either at breakfast time, or cooked into a savory lunch or dinner dish.